X100v OVF

William Porter wrote:

Thanks for your post, which interests me very much and makes points that I myself am a bit concerned about. I've ordered an X100V (black) -- probably won't have it for some weeks. It will be my first Fuji camera. My current main cameras are a Sony A7 III and a Sony RX10 IV, both of which have pretty good EVFs and terrific autofocus.

What I like about the idea of the OVF as I understand it's implemented in the X100V is that I'll be able to see more of the scene in front of me than I'm going to capture. That sounds useful.

But I really do not understand how you focus with the X100V and I'm looking forward to learning when I get mine. The autofocus on my current Sony cameras is tremendous so I'm not hoping for the X100V to be better -- but I do hope it's not worse.

Sean Reid's outstanding website https://www.reidreviews.com/ has a number of articles about the X100V, the X-PRO3 and a fantastic old article about the various different types of finders. It's all behind a paywall but very much worth the price of admission. He's extremely fond of Leica rangefinders and so also very keen on certain Fuji cameras like the X100V and the X-PRO3. His article on the varieties of finder is the best thing I've ever read on the subject and very thought-provoking. But it is also a bit, well, "philosophical" might be too strong, so I'll just say abstract. I like this sort of thing. But in the end, it's also the case that I use the camera as a tool to take photos. Reid is fond of the experience of shooting with rangefinder-style OVF. True he thinks it leads to better photos. I'm not so sure but am eager to find out.

William

If you like the idea of seeing outside the frame the OVF makes sense.

I'd say that manually focusing with the Fuji is a similar experience as the Sonys. You have focus assist options like you do with a Sony.